


Don't Act Like You Forgot, I Call The Shots

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Scream (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 05:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11708193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: Prequel to the original Scream series. Nina Patterson has it all; she keeps her friends close and her enemies closer, she holds them all in the palm of her hands, but does fate have other plans for her?





	Don't Act Like You Forgot, I Call The Shots

Nina loved walking into school knowing that all the guys wanted to date her, all the girls wanted to be her. Either that or they were scared of her. But that was mainly dorks like Audrey Jensen, and if they were scared and kept out of her way, that was fine with her. She had Tyler O’Neill by her side, and she had Brooke and Riley, Will and Jake. 

Nina had noticed that Will had a crush on her. Frankly, she was surprised that no one else seemed to have picked up on it. And she had no intention of acting on it. Sure, he was cute in his own way, he was a jock, he would have done anything for her, but he didn’t have that edge, that extra something to keep Nina interested. Sometimes, she wondered if Tyler really did either. But either way, Nina didn’t initially plan on acting on Will’s crush. Not unless he ever became useful to her. But she liked knowing that he liked her, that the possibility was there to use it one day to her advantage.

Then one day at lunch, Nina had taken her seat just in time to hear Will say “I think she’s cute.”

“Who’s cute?” Nina had asked.

Jake had shrugged. “Emma Duval, apparently.”

“Emma Duval? Are you kidding me?” Nina shrieked. The only reason anyone even knew who Emma Duval was, was because her father had been the only survivor of that massacre years ago. As for Emma herself, she was instantly forgettable. She hung out with losers like Audrey, for pete’s sake, the kind of kids that made Nina itch with irritation. Will was interested in that?

“You’re just pissed because she beat you in Branson’s quiz last week. Not liking it that someone else is Number 1 for a change?” Jake teased.

“Bite me, Fitzgerald,” Nina had snapped, knowing it wasn’t exactly a witty comeback, and feeling angry with herself for not being able to come up with a better line.

“She’s in a few of my classes, Nina, she isn’t so bad,” Riley piped up.

“Excuse me? The same girl who used to shout at you and speak to you like you were a moron because she thought you didn’t speak English when you first moved to Lakewood?” Nina snapped. 

“We were eight, Nina.” Riley rolled her eyes. “I kinda got past it.”

“Tell you what, Will,” Nina suggested, “bet you that you can’t sleep with her within a month.”

“Nina!” Riley exclaimed, but shut up at a glare from Nina.

“You’re on,” Will grinned, shaking Nina’s hand and slapping Jake’s hand away from helping himself to his fries. Then Brooke started talking about something else, and Nina forgot all about it.

 

Nina hadn’t thought any more about the bet for a couple of days. If she had, she wouldn’t have expected any more to come of it. At most, Will would probably crash and burn while asking Emma out. But then one day, Nina arrived at their usual lunch table to find Emma Duval sat beside Will. 

Most people would have flinched under Nina’s stare. But Emma actually faced Nina head on, cheerfully greeted her and joined in the conversation. Months later, Emma admitted that she had been afraid of Nina saying something to her, the way she always was with Audrey, or other kids that Nina considered beneath her, asking Emma who the hell she thought she was even trying to talk to her. But in the moment, she’d talked to Nina as though they were equals, and a part of Nina had to admit she respected Emma for not seeming to be scared of her.

Jake and Tyler had smirked at her when Emma had left the table, made jokes about how Nina had better start thinking about coughing up. But there was still time on her deadline, and she told them not to count her out quite yet.

Nina always played to win.

 

She was hanging out at Brooke’s along with Riley when the text came through from Will, a couple of days before Nina’s deadline was up. Brooke had seen the look on Nina’s face as she opened the video, tried to look over her shoulder before realising what was playing on her screen and immediately looking away again.

“I can’t believe he actually did it,” Nina whistled. “Gotta hand it to him. Think I may have a newfound respect for Will.”

“I can’t believe it either,” Brooke replied in a tone which implied she didn’t feel quite the same way as Nina.

“But you’re gonna delete it, right?” Riley asked.

“Yeah, you made your point. Things are going really well for them, and Emma’s a part of the group now. I feel bad about the way we all went along with that, and I keep wondering if we should say anything to her, but it’s getting harder and harder.” Brooke joined in.

“So you’ll get rid of it?” Riley repeated.

“Yeah, whatever.” Nina yawned. _Hell, no._ Will thought he’d just made himself some easy money. Instead, he’d handed himself over to Nina on a plate. She owned him now, and whatever she needed to do for her, he’d do it, unless he wanted that little video nasty to go viral. 

Nina handed Will his winnings before school the next morning. Later on that day, Will asked Emma for a date at the fanciest restaurant in town. When Emma asked him how he could have afforded it, which they all knew he really couldn’t, Tyler elbowed Nina in the ribs as he exchanged a knowing look with Jake. Emma didn’t seem to notice anything, and Nina didn’t draw her attention to it. She’d store it up for when a time came that she really needed it.

“So he’s spending his winnings on Emma,” Tyler had said when Will and Emma got up to go. 

“Which is a good thing,” Riley pointed out before Nina had chance to make a bitchy remark. 

“He actually tried not to accept,” Nina admitted. “But I mentioned Duke, and he was snatching the money back out of my hand.”

“I still feel kind of bad about the way we were all in on the bet,” Brooke went on. “Don’t you, Nina? I know you weren’t keen on her at first, but I think even you are starting to like her now, right?”

“She’s not so bad,” Nina muttered, turning around and seeing Tyler was deep in conversation with Jake about football. “But I still think Will could do better.”

“Knock it off, Nina,” Brooke sighed. “I know he had a crush on you at the start of the year, but I think he moved on from that. Will’s really into Emma now.”

“Bet you fifty bucks that if I offer myself to him on a plate before the end of the year, he still takes it,” Nina smirked.

“Whatever,” Brooke rolled her eyes before turning to talk to Riley about something else and promptly losing interest. But the conversation wasn’t over for Nina.

 

“Ugh, Branson is such an asshole!” Nina glared as she joined her friends.

“What’s up?” Tyler asked.

“He just gave me a C on my pop quiz,” Nina rolled her eyes. “If I get any more, I’m actually going to fail that class.”

“That would be the pop quiz the day after you stayed out late with Brooke?” Jake asked.

“That’s right. Hey,” Nina rounded on Brooke. “He’s right. We were out late that night. How did you manage to get an A?”

Brooke shrugged. “Guess I just got lucky.”

Nina smirked. “Maybe Branson will be the one getting lucky, if I go see him and see if I can…persuade him to change my grade.”

“He’s totally not gonna go for that,” Brooke said so fast that Nina blinked. Was that…wait a second, was Brooke interested in Branson? No one else seemed to have picked up on that, although Nina was surprised Jake hadn’t. His crush on Brooke was obvious a mile off, it was kind of pathetic. Especially when Nina was around.

“Watch and learn, Grasshopper,” Nina said, pretending she hadn’t picked up on anything. But she determined that she was gonna try anyway. After all, Nina getting into Berkeley mattered a lot more than Brooke’s stupid crush. “And Tyler?” she whispered. “Gonna need some of your technical expertise here. You’ve got something you can plant in his classroom, right? Just as a little…insurance, in case I need it.”

 

“Nina?” Branson asked when he walked into his classroom to find Nina there, arranged in a seductive pose, draped across the desk, shirt button undone to a revealing level.

“I was hoping we could discuss my grade on the To Kill a Mockingbird paper,” Nina pouted, meeting Branson’s gaze as he determinedly looked away. She could tell it was a real effort for him to resist her, watched as he backed off, willed him to give in to temptation.

“Nina, if you want an assignment for extra credit, to bring your grade up that way, we can talk about that. But anything else is off the table. I suggest you fasten up those buttons and get out of here,” Branson said, opening the door.

Nina couldn’t believe it. For once, she had failed.

 

“Hey, Nina, I got the footage from that camera you had me hide in Branson’s room,” Tyler said as soon as Nina arrived at his place.

“Ugh, just trash it already,” Nina snapped. She didn’t want a reminder of what had happened there. She, Nina Patterson, had crashed and burned. For the first time, she hadn’t managed to get what she wanted.

“Oh, I think you’re gonna want to see this,” Tyler smirked, hitting Play before Nina could stop him.

“Wait a second,” Nina gasped. “Is that Branson…with Brooke?” So that whole time Nina had just thought Brooke had a crush on Branson, she’d actually been acting on it? So that was why Branson had rejected her, because he already had something going with her friend. Brooke had suddenly gone way up in her estimation. It would be kind of a shame to make it public…On the other hand, if Branson thought she was going to…

“Tyler? Send that to my phone right away.”

 

“Nina, I made myself perfectly clear yesterday,” Branson began when he walked into his classroom to find Nina waiting for him.

“Oh, but a picture’s worth a thousand words, Mr. Branson,” Nina said as she licked her lips. “Although I guess you may not agree?” Nina held out her phone and pressed play. As Branson watched the images of himself and Brooke on Nina’s screen, Nina said “You do know she’s the mayor’s daughter, right? I’m sure Mayor Maddox will be just as interested as the principal to find out about this. Of course, I can always be persuaded to make this disappear…”

So began Nina and Tyler’s blackmailing career.

On her next pop quiz for Branson, Nina received an A.

 

“Did you hear about Emma and Will?” Brooke asked as Nina took her seat next to her one morning at school. “They had this really big fight last night and broke up!”

“What happened?” Nina asked.

“Apparently he got angry when Emma kept going on about college. You know how worried he is about not getting into Duke, or getting in but not getting any financial aid. Emma had kept going on about her college plans, and Will had snapped something that at least she could be certain she could get to go.”

“Her father used to yell a lot, and I think maybe it reminded Emma of that,” Riley put in.

“Thanks for the insight, Dr. Phil,” Nina said, then thought maybe she shouldn’t have when she saw Riley flinch. “So it got to the point that they actually broke up?”

Brooke nodded. “Riley and I are going round there for a girly get together tonight, all her favourite movies, mani pedi, you up for it?”

“Might have to give it a miss,” Nina replied. “I think I have something else on tonight.” She took out her phone, typed out a text to Will. _Just heard what happened. You okay?_

 _You can always rely on the Brooke grapevine. Pretty gutted._ came his response.

 _Shall I come over later, see if I can take your mind off it?_ Nina smirked, knowing exactly what his response would be.

 

“So, you owe me fifty dollars,” Nina said the next time she saw Brooke.

Brooke frowned. “What are you talking about…You and Will?”

Nina smirked. “And I have to say, he’s gotten better since that video.”

“Nina! I wasn’t seriously wanting to bet on that! I could kind of understand it when you didn’t really know Emma. But she’s our friend now. She’s your friend. I’m not okay with this.”

Nina was about to drop a hint that she knew what was going on with Brooke and Branson, hoping to keep her quiet, but decided against it. Since the incident with Branson, Nina and Tyler had realised that there could be a lot in it for them if they continued the blackmail business, use it to make some actual money instead of using it to improve her grades. She never would have thought that such a small town as Lakewood could have so many secrets. But now wasn’t the moment to bring that up.

“And just so you know? Tyler and Riley are working on trying to get Will and Emma back together as we speak. And I’m pretty sure they’re gonna do it. You were a mistake, Nina, a crush he acted on, but Emma’s the real thing, and Will’s gonna realise that.”

When Will came to her a few days later saying almost the same thing, Nina wondered if Brooke had written his speech. But it didn’t really matter. It had never been a relationship that she wanted from Will.

“Turns out you’re not the only one who can make videos,” Nina said as she held up her phone. “Wouldn’t it be such a shame if this got sent to Emma by mistake?”  
“Nina, please,” Will begged. “We only just got back together, this is my chance to make it right with her.”

“I can be persuaded to keep quiet…for a price.” Nina smirked. “So Tyler and I, we kinda have this thing going on…” As she began to explain, Will’s jaw dropped.

“Blackmail? The Mayor? Are you serious?”

“Very much so. Just think of Duke, Will, think of the contributions you could have to your college fund. And just think of Emma, watching this video. I own you now, Will. Remember that.”

 

 

Nina was beginning to wonder why she’d bothered going to this stupid bar. It was just full of the same old faces she saw every time, same staff knowing full well who she was (who in Lakewood didn’t?) and turning a blind eye every time she claimed to be 23. Part of her sometimes wished she would get questioned, just to break up the routine and monotony.

Wait a second. This looked promising. A new guy, someone Nina had never seen before.

“Hi,” she said, approaching him. “I’m Nina. Are you new here? I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”

“Yeah, I just moved here,” the new guy said, “a couple of weeks ago.”

“For work?” Nina asked.

“Yeah…I guess you could say that. Work and family.”

“Where do you work?” Nina asked. “I’m 23, and I’m in IT.”

“Funny that,” the new guy said, “Me too. Who do you work for?”

“Um…Reynhold Industries,” Nina stuttered. No one had ever actually questioned her on that before. Most of the guys she met in bars barely seemed to notice what she had claimed to do. Sometimes Nina felt like saying something shocking, just to see if she could get a different reaction. Maybe this guy wasn’t like all the others after all.

“Yeah, nice try. I’ve seen The IT Crowd too. And something tells me you’re not 23 either.”

“I could ask the same questions of you,” Nina said, looking more closely at him and realising that he was younger than she first thought, probably about the same age as her. “Who are you, and what are you really doing in town?”

“You’ll find out the answer to both of those very soon,” the guy winked. 

“And how long are you here for?” Nina asked.

The guy smiled. “Honestly? I don’t know, but I hope not that long.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Nina realised she was slurring her words; maybe she was more drunk than she had realised. “So far, you seem to be the most interesting thing about this whole freaking town.”

“Come on, Nina,” the guy said, leading her towards the door. “Let’s get you home. And no, not like that, just to get you home. I already have a girlfriend.”

“Then why isn’t she here?” Nina asked, but he ignored that and continued towards the exit.

Nina didn’t resist as the guy led her away. She barely registered the blonde girl watching them, someone she thought went to that uptight Catholic school, until she saw the guy glaring at her and holding up a hand.

“Wait a second…Is that girl filming us? Who the hell does she think she is?” Nina asked.

The guy led Nina out of the door, told her to sit on the bar steps for a moment while he went to speak to the girl. As Nina watched, the girl turned and ran off.

“What did you say to her?” Nina asked.

“Don’t worry.” The guy smiled. “She won’t be filming anything ever again.”

 

“So things have been a bit weird with Will lately,” Emma said as she and Nina walked through the parking lot. “I was trying to call him all Thursday night, and his phone was off. It seems like his phone dies a lot.”

It was working okay when he was watching all those stupid cat videos on YouTube round at my place before I turned it off to stop your constant calling interrupting us in the hot tub, Emma dear, Nina thought, but instead she mumbled something vague about Will having this really ancient handset and really needing to get a new one.

“He’s not spending anything right now,” Emma explained. “He’s still worried about not getting any financial assistance for Duke.”

Nina yawned. Other people’s financial problems didn’t interest her. Why would they, when she was well enough off that even Sage the dog could have anything she ever wanted? Besides, she of all people knew full well that Will wasn’t quite as broke as Emma thought.

“Hey, check that out,” she said hastily. “Looks like a bit of girl on girl action over there,” she pointed to a car. Audrey’s car. And as she zoomed in on them, Nina realised that the girl Audrey was kissing was none other than that weird blonde girl from the night before, the one who had the cheek to film her, Nina Patterson, and that new guy in town! Perfect. This gave Nina an opportunity to fix both of them at the same time.

“You’re going to trash that, right?” Emma asked.

“Sure I will,” Nina replied, hastily sending the clip to Tyler just to make sure nothing happened to it, in case Emma got an attack of the conscience and trashed it first. “I’ll only show Jake and the others, I promise.” _And the whole of George Washington High School and that freaky Catholic school,_ , Nina thought to herself. That weird girl would never be able to hold her head up again, let alone show off her footage of Nina and the new guy. Nina had fixed her and Audrey Jensen at the same time, she had Tyler, Will and Jake firmly in her pockets, potentially Brooke too, and there was that new guy – she was definitely going to find out what his deal was, and see if he really was so faithful to that girlfriend he’d talked about. It was definitely going to be a good year.


End file.
